As for Italy, three species of sturgeon were present in the territory and caviar was both produced and imported; the Serenissima Republic of Venice imported and distributed caviar from the Black Sea, trading first with the Byzantine Empire, then with the Ottomans. The first known Italian recipe to utilize caviar dates back to the mid-1400s but a century later several Italian authors publish methods (recipes) for the preparation of caviar. In Ferrara, the traditional production based on fishing in the Po river, is documented from Cristoforo di Messisbugo until the Second World War.